Pick of the Day: A Creative Young Woman Brightens a Girl's Day With a Magical Surprise, Courtesy of HP

BBDO San Francisco and Sara Dunlop Are Behind Heartwarming Tale

By

George Slefo

Published On

Nov 06, 2017

Editor's Pick

HP, hoping to bank on a strong holiday season after edging out Lenovo as the No. 1 computer manufacturer, tugs at the heartstrings (again) in new work for its "Keep Reinventing" campaign.

Part of a HP global campaign now in year two--a new long-form video tells the story of a creative young woman who treats a little girl who lives in the apartment across the alley to a special surprise. With the help of her HP laptop, she enlists the help of some of the girl's neighbors--a marionette maker and a young man--and invites the little one to a whimsical holiday show.

The film, dubbed "Reinvent Giving," breaks Monday night. BBDO San Francisco created the spot, and Sara Dunlop, (whose work includes the award-winning short film, "Dreamlands" directed. HP and BBDO selected her through the Free the Bid initiative, the industry-wide effort launched in September 2016 to help level the playing field for female directors.

BBDO and HP are among those who have given the Free to Bid "pledge" to include a female director on every triple-bid project, among other things. HP has been a particularly avid brand supporter, having also provided financial backing to the initiative.

The effort "is part of our DNA," says Matt Cowling, head of global marketing at HP Inc. "We just don't talk about it, but every agency we work with knows that an equal number of bids have to come from Free the Bid." Cowling adds that HP's last two campaigns included women directors.

HP says its recent win in market share has a lot to do with how it targets millennials, which it says yearn for something other than "predictability and sameness." It's more likely, however, that HP's success has to do with investing in and creating innovative premium products.

The new ad highlights HP's new Spectre hybrid laptop, which it dubs the world's thinnest and has a sticker price of about $1,600. Cowling says the premium strategy is working. "It's something that we are going to see more and more of" from HP, he says.

The approximately two-minute video is set to appear both online and on broadcast TV. For the latter, it will be cut down to 30-seconds and air during shows including "Jimmy Fallon," "The Daily Show," "Saturday Night Live" and "NBA on ESPN."
In 2015, HP officially split into two companies: HP Enterprise, which sells hardware and software for businesses, and HP Inc., which sells personal computers and printers. The split marked a new era for HP--famously born in a Palo Alto, California, garage--that adopted the "Invent" tagline in 1999.

In its most recent quarter, the company posted revenue of $13 billion, up 10 percent year-over-year. Net revenue from its computer business was also up 12 percent to $8.4 billion when compared with the same period last year.